A jet owned by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was seized in the Dominican Republic and brought to Florida as a result of violating U.S. sanctions.  According to CNN, “The Dominican Republic’s President Luis Abinader said the plane seized by the US on Monday was not registered under the name of the Venezuelan government, but rather under ‘the name of an individual.’” 

The seized plane, a Dassault Falcon 900EX, is the Venezuelan version of Air Force One. Dassault, a French aircraft company, created the Falcon 900EX as a long-range version of the Dassault Falcon 900. President Maduro travels around the world in this aircraft.

Opposition Arrest in Venezuela

There has been a crackdown on Maduro’s dissenters, resulting in 1,600 arrests and many opposition leaders have gone into hiding. Results show that opposition candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, won the election by a margin of 30% in July. He has since been served an arrest warrant. 

According to Aljazeera, “The warrant was issued on Monday at the request of the office of the public prosecutor, which is conducting a criminal investigation into the closely-fought election. It sought the warrant after 75-year-old Gonzalez, a former diplomat, failed to appear three times to answer questions on charges including conspiracy and falsifying documents in relation to the election.” 

Maria Corina Machado, an opposition leader, expressed her concern on X, formerly Twitter, about Maduro’s exploitation of power. ‘The arrest warrant issued by the regime to threaten President-Elect Edmundo Gonzalez crosses a new line that only strengthens the resolve of our movement. Venezuelans and democracies around the world are more united than ever in our quest for freedom,” Machado wrote on X after the warrant was issued.  

U.S. Sanctions on Venezuela 

Earlier this year, President Joe Biden relaxed sanctions against Venezuela’s oil industry as a good-faith effort for Maduro to hold fair elections, NPR reported. Sanctions have since been reimposed due to Maduro’s crackdowns on his opponents. Since then, new sanctions have been placed on President Maduro along with his connections due to the election dispute.  

According to Yahoo! Finance, “The US is laying the groundwork for new sanctions on Venezuelan government officials in response to Nicolás Maduro’s disputed reelection in July.” Before that, U.S. sanctions were imposed, which included prohibiting sales by American citizens to Maduro’s government. 

According to Aljazeera, “Such a transaction would violate sanctions imposed by Washington in 2019 that prohibit US citizens from engaging in sales to individuals acting indirectly or directly on behalf of Maduro’s government.”  The U.S. government also targets Venezuela’s financial resources.

“Executive Order 13835, among other things, prohibits transactions by a United States person or within the United States related to: the purchase of any debt owed to the Government of Venezuela (including PDVSA), such as but not limited to accounts receivable; any debt owed to the Government of Venezuela that is pledged as collateral after May 21, 2018; and the sale, transfer, assignment, or pledging as collateral by the Government of Venezuela of any equity interest in any entity in which it has a 50 percent or greater ownership interest. E.O. 13835 closes another avenue for corruption by denying the Venezuelan regime the ability to earn money by selling off public assets at ‘fire sale’ prices at the expense of the Venezuelan people,” according to the U.S. Department of State. 

When President Donald Trump became the 45th U.S. president, he broadened the sanctions to destabilize Maduro. The Hill reported that President Trump imposed all-encompassing financial restrictions and sanctions on oil, which is Venezuela`s strongest industry.

A Call to Action

Global leaders need to express their support of democracies and fair elections and condemn those who oppose them, such as Maduro’s efforts to trump the transition of power to his oppositors, ending a 25 year long reign of Chavismo in Venezuela.